PASADENA – In 1944, with the world at war, many a young man was sent to the battlegrounds of Europe and the Pacific.

Like many of their neighbors in Pasadena, the Reyes family had sons fighting in World War II. In their case, six of their seven sons ended up serving.

The seventh son was spared because he was too young. He would later fight in the Korean War.

The Reyes brothers served in different branches of the military. All came back.

While the oldest Reyes child, Manuel, signed up with the U.S. Navy, the rest of his brothers were drafted.

Frank, or “Chito” as he was called, was in the Seabees; Roman, or “Ray,” also was in the Navy; Margo, who was in the Army Air Force, saw battle in the Philippines; Jose or “Tony” was in the Army’s 91st Infantry Division and fought in Italy. Thomas or “Tommy”, who was 18 when drafted, belonged to the 385th Infantry Regiment, 76th Infantry Division that fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

Tony and Tommy Reyes were awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. Both were wounded in battle.

Did they expect to survive the war?

“I didn’t expect nothing. I had to say my prayers every day,” said Tony Reyes, now 85 and living in Corona. “Especially if you’re getting bombed.”

Tommy Reyes, 80, of Monrovia said he didn’t expect to make it through either, but he also recited his Hail Marys.

They and the youngest, Salvador Leon, are the only Reyes brothers still alive.

It’s been estimated that 250,000 to 500,000 Latinos served in World War II, but no exact numbers are available, or statistics on how many brothers served together during the war.

“It is kind of hard to nail down because, at the time, not all discharge papers said if they were white or Hispanic,” said Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin Department of Journalism. Some soldiers were counted as white, some as Mexicans, she added.

Rivas-Rodriguez created the U.S. Latino and Latina Oral History Project at the university seven years ago. Since then, more than 500 interviews have been conducted, not only with soldiers but the women waiting at home or working in the factories.

They’ve interviewed many Latino brothers who served in the war. She said Latinos had bigger families and children close in age to each other so the sons often fell in the age-group eligible to be drafted or enlisted.

Rivas-Rodriguez said the story they hear over and over is, if one brother went, the others felt the need to go too.

Many local Latino families had sons in the war, Tommy Reyes said. Their family had 10 children and the sons knew they were going to be drafted.

“That was expected and a lot of times a lot of guys wanted to go,” he said.

Scattered during the war, the Reyes brothers wondered how each was fairing.

“You pray they’re all right,” Tommy Reyes said.

He got word from a brother once. While he was recuperating from a leg wound in an English hospital, a letter arrived from Tony in Italy.

Tommy Reyes remembers the letter saying, “I guess you fresh apples heard what we did over here.”

“I wrote back, `While you guys sat on your cans over there, we took the rest of Europe and I’ll see you home.’ I was heading home already,” he said.

Tommy Reyes was wounded March 29, 1945, in Germany. His squad was moving into a city when they came under attack from enemy combatants in the buildings. A round hit his left leg and shattered the tibia.

“Three guys in front of me got it,” he said. “I hit the ground. I could feel the blood running down \. I just played dead.”

Tony Reyes was wounded “outside of a hill in Italy” and also got trench foot caused by prolonged exposure to wet and cold.

With all but one of her sons gone, Josephine Reyes, could only wait at home for their return. She went to Our Lady of Guadalupe, which used to be on Raymond Avenue and California Boulevard, and lit candles for them.

When her sons came back, “My mom was in heaven. She was proud of her boys,” Tommy Reyes said. “We’d come visit her, she’d make a pile of homemade tortillas, put on Mexican music.”

After the war, Manuel Reyes worked as a sprayer for an enameling company in Vernon. Family lore has it that he painted the rose logo on the side of the Rose Bowl. Margo Reyes also worked for the same company.

Roman Reyes got a job in the laundry department of the Huntington Hospital in Pasadena; Frank Reyes joined Wilson Packing Co. in Oklahoma; Tony Reyes worked at the ARCO foundry in Torrance; and Tommy Reyes served the city of Pasadena for 20 years in its then-parks department. He said it was in the tree-trimming division.

Tommy Reyes bought a liquor store in 1969 but quit five years later after he was robbed. He went back to the tree-trimming business.

Roman’s son, Ray Reyes of Baldwin Park, said his father never discussed his war experiences. He found out details later from his uncle Tommy.

“My father didn’t talk much. He was quiet,” Ray Reyes said. He’s proud that his father and uncles served.

Tommy Reyes said he and his brothers didn’t really talk about the war or swap war stories.

“I was the one who asked questions because I wanted to know,” he said. “I just thank God I came home. Met my parents, my girlfriend, had a family. I thank God for that all the way.”

Ruby Gonzales started working for the company in 1991. Since then she has written about cities, school districts, crimes, cold cases, courts, the San Gabriel River, local history, anime, insects, forensics and the early days of the Internet when people still referred to it as the "information superhighway." Her current beat includes breaking news, crimes and courts for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star News and Whittier Daily News. When not in crime reporter mode, she frequents the remaining bookstores in the San Gabriel Valley, haunts craft stores or gets dragged to eateries by a relative who is a foodie.

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